News

Weather Extremes Show Food Security Should be Major Concern

13 February 2014

UK - Extreme weather events like those experienced around the world in recent months have shown the importance of ensuring everything is done to protect agricultural land and enable farmers to meet future food production challenges, NFU President Peter Kendall will tell MPs today (Wednesday).

Giving evidence at the Efra Select Committee on food security, Mr Kendall will say that British farming is well placed to meet the challenge of increasing food production but the whole of the food industry has to work together to ensure it can maximise its potential.

“Britain’s soils, seasonality and climate give us the natural ingredients for a productive farming sector both now and in the medium term as our climate becomes more unpredictable. But investment in science and knowledge transfer will be vital in helping us capitalise on these natural advantages and enabling UK farming to maximise its food producing potential.

“We also need to create a positive legislative environment supporting the agri-food sector so farmers have the confidence to invest and can deal with unpredictable weather patterns, market volatility and any price fluctuations that may result,” Mr Kendall will say.

“The whole of the food chain needs to work together to ensure agricultural policy and regulation is working towards these goals. Shorter supply chains, fairer distribution of margin, better information sharing across food businesses and a joined up approach to managing volatility and risk will give farmers the confidence to invest in their businesses and help safeguard the longer term resilience of UK food production.

“We know more and more British consumers want to buy high quality British food produced to high standards of welfare and food safety. It is vital that everything is done to ensure farmers are in a position to meet this demand now and as it grows in the future.”